Knežević: The debate about Mandić's dismissal is actually a debate about whether Mladić is a hero or a criminal

The leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP), Milan Knežević, said that the party would never support any initiative to remove Andrija Mandić from the position of President of the Parliament of Montenegro, but if he were not sure, the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) would react the same if his position were at stake.

He also said that he regrets that he will not be able to attend the funeral of the deceased war criminal Ratko Mladić, because he will be in the United States of America (USA) at that time, and pointed out that the discussion about dismissing Mandić is actually a discussion about whether Mladić is a hero or a criminal.

In an interview with Euronews Montenegro, Knežević said that he was not in a dispute with Mandić, who he said had a different view on how the interests of the Serbian people in Montenegro should be protected, that the DNP at the state level is no longer in coalition with the NSD, but that he would like Mandić's party to have had the same understanding for the DNP as they now have for the Bosniak Party (BS).

"I wish my colleagues from the NSD had understood the DNP and its positions as they have understood the BS and the fact that their coalition and partner in the government, in the parliamentary majority, will vote for the dismissal of Mr. Mandić, which best speaks of the schizophrenic situation in the parliamentary majority, where coalition partners vote against each other. At the same time, the fact that the Bosniak Party is in coalition with the DPS is being ignored, and internal enemies are being hunted, predominantly the DNP, under false accusations that they have some secret or public agreements with the DPS, even though the entire parliamentary majority signed the so-called Sattler Agreement with the DPS, which they respect point by point," said Knežević.

He added that this once again confirms the DNP's position that there was both the possibility and the political will to change the Constitution in the part about so-called identity issues and to make the Serbian language official, but that the parliamentary majority, primarily the representatives of the Serbian people in the Government of Milojko Spajić, obviously did not have the courage to do so.

Speaking about the disagreement with the NSD at the state level, Knežević said that the story about staying in the government so that Serbs would not lose their jobs was nullified because all Serbs from the DNP "who were in any position" lost their jobs.

"I could list all the days when Serbs were left without jobs, and then Serbs voted for their dismissal and Serbs replaced them," he said.

The DNP leader said that he could not blame only the NSD for this, but noted that without the consent of that party, the aforementioned dismissals could not have occurred.

Knežević said that they would not support the dismissal of Andrija Mandić even if the initiative came from another party.

"Because we do not forget what we went through with them, but I would not say that it would be the same if it were me and my position. But as far as we are concerned, we will not vote for any initiative, no matter who it comes from, that relates to the dismissal of Andrija Mandić, because we are guided by certain human, not political or pragmatic principles. Which is probably a little surprising in Montenegro, but let me remind you, we are also a political party that left the Government because of its ideology, because of its principles at a time when few would do that. And what I want to especially emphasize is that on that day when the debate on the confidence or dismissal of Andrija Mandić is being held, in fact the debate is being held on whether Ratko Mladić is a war hero or a war criminal," Knežević pointed out.

Speaking about Ratko Mladić, the DNP leader said that "they also condemned Hrist as a criminal."

"They convicted Giordano Bruno, and history has proven otherwise, not to mention dozens and dozens of other crimes, examples where people were convicted... The Hague can neither be a benchmark nor a standard for what happened in the former Yugoslavia. And if we add to that that Serbs in The Hague were sentenced to 1400 years in prison, I can best tell you about what that court is like, not what we Serbs are like as a people... I certainly cannot come to terms with the fact that someone is labeling us as a genocidal people and is still trying to re-educate us... As for me personally, I will not accept that no one from the European Union or anywhere else determines who I can go to offer condolences to, who I can go to send a congratulatory message to, what songs I will sing and that I will constantly be wondering if some Sokol or someone from the European Commission will call," Knežević said, adding that, to his regret, he will not attend Mladić's funeral because he will be in the US at that moment, but that someone from his family will be present.